Dietician explains how recreating Nikocado Avocado’s weight loss could be dangerous for viewers

Nikocado Avocado shocked the world by revealing he’d secretly lost 250 lbs. We spoke with a registered dietitian about his weight loss, who claimed this style of content could negatively influence some viewers.

Nikocado Avocado is a prominent YouTuber who specializes in Mukbang content, a type of video or live stream where creators eat copious amounts of food and chat with their viewers.

Over the last few years, Nikocado sparked concern from audiences due to his weight, presumably gained by the food he ate during his mukbang videos.

However, in September 2024, he shocked the internet by revealing that he’d been uploading pre-recorded content over the last two years while he secretly lost 250 pounds as part of a “social experiment.”

Nikocado’s weight loss stunned netizens and fellow influencers who congratulated the YouTuber on his “incredible” transformation… but a registered dietitian says this could be harmful to viewers with disordered eating patterns.

We spoke with Lena Bakovic from Top Nutrition Coaching, a Registered Dietitian Nutritionist specializing in gut health, chronic disease, and weight management, about Nikocado’s “social experiment” — and she says this messaging could create misconceptions for certain audiences.

First, Lena explained how Mukbang content can negatively influence netizens struggling with eating disorders, especially given its accessibility on online platforms like YouTube and TikTok.

“Mukbang… has been correlated with harmful eating behaviors and disordered eating patterns in some clinical trials,” she told us. ” Although in most of these videos, the intent of the content appears to initially be harmless, it also demonstrates binge-eating style behaviors, which are well-known and recognized in the eating disorder community. 

“For individuals who already live with eating disorders, and even otherwise healthy individuals, the easy accessibility of Mukbang videos may negatively influence their food consumption patterns and psychological well-being. This type of content also seemingly disassociates from intuitive eating patterns, whereby people hold the ability to more mindfully tune into and follow their hunger and fullness cues.”

Mukbang content has proven deadly in the past. In 2024, Chinese Mukbang streamer Pan Xiaoting died during a live broadcast at 24 years old due to “overeating,” with an autopsy finding her abdomen was “severely deformed.”

Lena went on to outline how Nikocado’s dramatic weight loss may contribute to misconceptions around losing weight for those struggling with disordered eating, saying that “morbidly obese” people tend to lose weight faster than those who are overweight.

“His now smaller body size may further add to misperception for individuals predisposed to, or already living with disordered eating,” she told us.

“In terms of what is considered a healthy pace of weight loss, individuals who are morbidly obese may lose weight faster than individuals who are overweight. This is largely due to their metabolic needs and high requirements for dietary protein. 

“Otherwise, a weight loss pace of 1-2lbs per week is often considered ideal, in that it can help to preserve lean body mass while shedding fat mass, especially when combined with regular physical activity to include strength and endurance type of activities.”

Nikocado’s social experiment has become a viral sensation across the internet, but he continues to confuse his fans, uploading yet another video from before his weight loss claiming that he’d never actually lost the weight to begin with.

It’s unclear what the goal of Nikocado’s current content is, but one thing’s for certain… he’s great at getting peoples’ attention.